Page 58 of Somnium

Cadi sighed. Of all the things she had imagined them bickering over, the privilege of doing the dishes had not been one of them. It was only because Elias had insisted on shooing her out of the kitchen every time she tried to help that she had felt the need to set some ground rules that would allow her more opportunity to contribute. Who’d have thought he was almost as stubborn as she was?

“Well, I’m amending our previous discussion,” she said, flicking her fingers in demand. “Gimme.”

“You’re not gonna win this one,” he replied, a playful twinkle edging into his eyes.

She bent forward in defiance. “I will if I beat you to the kitchen and stake my claim.”

Elias bunched up his lips like he was pretending to think. “I see your point. You leave me no other option.”

She frowned at the suspicious lightness in his tone, and something told her she had just walked right into a trap of some sort.

“Sabotage.”

Cadi shrieked when Elias lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her legs, tackling her back down onto the couch. Her empty bowl clattered to the ground, and Elias made his move. Launching himself from the couch, he scooped up the stoneware and darted away into the kitchen, laughing victoriously.

“Bad form!” Cadi yelled as she scrambled to her feet to chase after him. He was already standing at the sink reaching for the sponge by the time Cadi made it to the kitchen. She dashed forward and tried to pull him back, but he was bigger than her, and his body barely shifted from her attempts.

Deciding to use their size difference to her advantage, Cadi tried another approach. She pressed herself against the counter and wiggled in front of him to claim some dishes for herself, then pushed him backward with a calculated booty bump.

Elias chuckled in her ear. The sound sent a thrill across her skin, but she refused to let it show. This was war.

“You know, I’m amenable to this compromise,” he murmured as he stepped forward again to continue scrubbing, his arms framing her body. Cadi had to admit she wasn’t wholly opposed to it either, but she couldn’t let him off that easily. She flicked her fingers over her shoulder, sending soapy water flying at his face.

Elias sputtered, then leaned forward to wipe the suds against her t-shirt.

“Hey!” she cried, trying to squirm away, but quickly realized she had thoroughly trapped herself between his body and the sink.

“You started it,” he teased, nuzzling her neck.

Cadi’s eyes fluttered closed when the tip of his nose was replaced by his lips, which moved up to her ear and nibbled gently against her earlobe as his hands slipped beneath her t-shirt to slide across her stomach.

“You’re making this very difficult, you know,” she breathed, barely able to focus on cleaning the last fork.

“Mmm, am I?”

She nodded, and let the sponge fall from her hand into the now-empty sink. Elias leaned forward, his body pressing against hers as he turned off the faucet.

Cadi let her head fall back against his chest and reached up to cup the back of his neck. His mouth skimmed along her jaw, barely touching her, teasing her with the promise of a kiss before he spun her around.

She looked up at him. The playful glint in his eyes darkening was the only warning she got before his carefully constructed resolve cracked.

There was no time for her to react when he gripped the backs of her thighs and boosted her up onto the counter. His lips crashed into hers, his strong hands cupping her face to tip her head back.

Cadi angled her hips forward, pressing herself against him and leaving no question as to what was on her mind. It had been over a month since they’d started dating, and she didn’t just want him—she needed him. Elias sucked in a sharp breath, his fingers fisting in her hair but instead of letting himself go like she so desperately wanted him to, he stopped.

“It’s getting late,” he whispered against her.

Cadi wrapped her legs around his waist and hooked her ankles behind his back to lock him in place. In the past, it had always been her hitting the brakes, doing what she could to draw things out in the hope that maybe if she waited, they would stick around.

But with Elias …

Gods, if she had her way, he would take her right there in the kitchen.

“Stay,” she said.

She felt him smile, then shake his head.

“Not tonight,” he said, kissing the underside of her jaw. “If I stay …”